and he adds, "I have known instances where it has been put to the proof, and they have actually refused the sacra

ment."

Dr. Doyle, a Roman Catholic bishop, stated to the commissioners the case of a school under the patronage of a noble lady, where the New Testament was used, and which was attended by the children of her ladyship's gate-keeper. He was warned by the priest to withdraw his children; but rather than incur her ladyship's displeasure, and lose his place, he suffered one of his children to attend, in consequence of which he and his wife were refused the sacraments.

A third inspector, Mr. Daly, thought the authority of the clergy was adequate to keep the children out of the schools, but that their objection was not so much to their reading the Testament, as to their reading it without note or comment."

Dr. Murray, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, declared to the commissioners that "the objection of their clergy was to the reading of the Testament without note or comment, let the school be under whatever society it might." He thought "the Kildare-street Society's plan less dangerous where the patron is a Catholic, and the school is under the superintendence of a Catholic clergyman who will deem it his duty to select the passages to be read, &c.; but he most decidedly opposed the principle that the scriptures should be read by children, in order that they may become acquainted with the principles of the Christian religion; in other words, that each child, on inspecting the sacred volume, should select such principles of religious faith and practice as he may think he can there discover; and that by private judgment, with an almost total absence of culture of mind, and before his reason has arrived at maturity. That this child is, in this state, to make out his religious belief and practice from the sacred volume, is a principle which we conceive to be erroneous; and as long as that principle is affirmed by the Kildare-street Society, so long we must endeavour to oppose its influence."

The conclusion from these premises is sufficiently obvious. The principles of religious faith and duty are not to be drawn from the Bible without assistance; and that assistance is exclusively in the hands of the Roman Catholic church, and is to be obtained only through the legitimate authorities of that church. This is the doctrine; the Roman Catholics have a right to hold it, and to suffer martyrdom

for it. As Protestants, however, we deny and utterly renounce it, and the difference between us is radical and unsusceptible of compromise.

"But," said the commissioners to his grace the archbishop, "you do not object to the Testament being read by persons of mature years and education ?"

"Of course not," replied his lordship; "all the bishops of Ireland have publicly recommended to the faithful to read the scriptures, but to read them in those dispositions of prayer and of obedience to the authority of the church which we think necessary, that they may be read with profit."

"Our

In other words, the Roman Catholic bishops do not object to Roman Catholics of mature years and education reading the Testament issued under Roman Catholic authority, and with Roman Catholic notes and comments. principles," said the archbishop, "are those of St. Paul. We wish to give to children milk and not strong meat. We give them, therefore, in the form of the (Roman Catholic) catechism, the first principles of the religion of Christ,* and

* There is no way of illustrating the force of these terms so satisfactorily as by transferring to our pages a spoonful of this milk, or a few passages from a catechism now before us, of which the following is the title: "A catechism; or a short abridgement of Christian doctrine; revised by the Right Rev. Dr. Kendrick, and approved for the use of the diocese of Philadelphia. Published by E. Cummiskey, 130 South Sixth-street, 1839." This is clearly an orthodox imprint.

"In the morning.-When you are dressed, kneel down and say the following prayers: O holy virgin, I put myself under thy protection, and beg the help of thy prayers. O my good angel, be thou also my protector, and pray to God for me, that I may do his will in all things." p. 2.

The angelical salutation.

"Hail Mary! full of grace, &c. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death." p. 2.

The confiteor.

"I confess to Almighty God, to blessed Mary, ever virgin, to blessed Michael, the archangel, to blessed St. John the Baptist, to the holy apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and to all the saints, that I have sinned, &c. Therefore I beseech thee, blessed Mary, ever virgin, &c., to pray to the Lord our God for me." p. 7. At night.

"Kneel down and say the following prayer: . I believe, and hold for certain, all thou hast revealed to thy holy church," &c. p. 9.

Q. How shall we know with certainty what God has taught?
A. From the Catholic church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth.

P. 14.

Q. Whither did the soul of our Saviour go after his death?

A. His soul went down into that part of hell called Limbo.

Q. What do you mean by Limbo?

A. I mean a place of rest where the souls of the saints were. p. 19.

as they grow up in (Roman Catholic) faith, we give them the strong meat of the gospel to digest."

Q. What is the Catholic church?

A. All the faithful under one head.

Q. Who is the head?

A. Christ Jesus our Lord.

Q. Has the church any visible head on earth?

A. Yes, the bishop of Rome, who is the successor of St. Peter, and common

ly called the Pope. pp. 21, 22.

Q. Can the church err in what she teaches?

A. No, she cannot err in matters of faith.

Q. Why so?

A. Because Christ has promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his church, and that the Holy Ghost shall teach her all truth, and he himself will abide with her forever. p. 23.

Q. Are the souls in purgatory helped by our prayers?

A. Yes, they are.

Q. In what cases do souls go to purgatory?

A. When they die in less sins, which we call venial, or when they have not satisfied the justice of God for former transgressions.

Q. To whom has Christ given power to forgive sins?

A. To the apostles and their successors, the bishops and priests of the church. p. 24.

Q. Are we bound to obey the commandments of the church?

A. Yes; because Christ has said to the pastors of his church he that hears you hears me, and he that despises you despises me.

Q. Why does the church command us to fast?

A. That by fasting we may satisfy God for our sins. p. 37.

Q. What is confession?

A. It is to accuse ourselves of all our sins to a priest. p. 42.

Q. What is an indulgence?

A. It is a releasing of temporal punishment, which often remains due to sin, after the guilt has been remitted by the sacrament of penance.

Q. What is extreme unction?

A. It is a sacrament which gives grace to die well. p. 43.

Q. Is it not bread and wine which is first put upon the altar for the celebration of the mass?

A. Yes, it is always bread and wine till the priest pronounces the words of consecration during the mass.

Q. What happens by these words?

A. The bread is changed into the body of Jesus Christ, and the wine into his blood.

Q. Do you believe this firmly?

A. Yes, and as firmly as if I saw it with my eyes; because Jesus Christ has said it.

Q. Does any thing remain of the bread and wine after consecration ?

A. Nothing remains of them but the forms or appearances.

Q. When the host is divided, under which part is Jesus Christ?

A. He is whole under each part.

Q. Does he who receives but one part of the host, or but one form, receive Jesus Christ whole and entire ?

A. Yes; because Jesus Christ is whole under each form and each part of the form.

Dr. Doyle also informed the commissioners, that if a parent should continue to send his children to a school, from which he had been warned by the priest to withdraw them, it would be a sin that he must abandon, or be denied absolution; nor could he receive any sacrament, "except that of matrimony, which, being a civil contract as well as a religious rite, is sometimes solemnized when we are not certain that the party is not in a state of sin," and that in these views the Roman Catholic clergy, as a body, fully concurred.

We have extended these extracts considerably, that our readers might understand the importance that is attached by the Roman Catholic church to the mere reading of the scriptures, unless under specific restrictions. The evidence satisfied the commissioners that such reading could not be insisted upon without a violation of the discipline and principles of the Roman Catholic church. And they were satisfied, moreover, that the use of the scriptures in the Kildarestreet Society's schools, was frequently a matter of mere form; that notwithstanding their professed neutrality, catechisms were taught as freely, in many of their schools, as in any others, merely by the fiction of treating the appointed hours as if they were not school-hours, (the restriction upon catechetical instruction being confined by the rules to "schoolhours;") and that in the selection of masters and mistresses, though nominally uninfluenced by religious considerations, they uniformly appointed Roman Catholic teachers to schools, of which the Roman Catholic clergy were patrons, and Protestant teachers to those of which the Protestant clergy were patrons. And as to the supplementary education, which was supposed to be furnished out of schoolhours and under appropriate ecclesiastical sanction, (and which all admitted to be indispensable,) it was very insufficiently provided.

When it was found that some change in the system was inevitable, the Roman Catholic bishops, in the first place, required, as a sine qua non of their concurrence in any national scheme, "that the master of each school in which the majority of the pupils profess the Roman Catholic faith.

Q. Is there any thing under the form of bread but the body of Jesus Christ? A. There is also there his blood, his soul, his divinity; in short, the whole person of Jesus Christ.

shall be a Roman Catholic; and that in schools of which the Roman Catholic children form only a minority" (no matter how small,) "a Roman Catholic assistant shall be employed; and that each master and assistant shall be appointed upon the recommendation or with the express approval of the Roman Catholic bishop of the diocese in which the school is situated."

And in the second place, they objected to any compilation from the scriptures taken exclusively from the Protestant version; nor would they even consent to the use of such a compilation in the national schools, whatever modification it might assume. And finally, to cut the matter short, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Dublin recommended, that as the whole difficulty seemed to lie in the use of the scriptures in some form, it would be best to dispense with their use entirely, and leave it in the hands of the pastors of the respective parties; and to this opinion the commissioners themselves evidently leaned !

Notwithstanding this utter alienation of the Roman Catholics as a body, the Kildare-street Society continued to receive parliamentary aid at the rate of $100,000 per annum, and when these supplies were withheld (1832), they had 1500 schools, and about 130,000 pupils in their connexion. Now (1841) their schools are reduced about onethird in number and size. The latest report we have seen gives them 1097 schools and 81,178 scholars. Their model school in Dublin contained 465 boys and 436 girls; and had under training, last year, 18 school masters and 63 school mistresses. The annual contributions amounted to $125,000 including $90,000 paid by pupils in sums varying from twenty-seven cents to one dollar. Probably the number of scholars above stated is the number at one time. course the number in attendance during some portion of the year would be very much larger. The society still retains the fullest confidence in the correctness of its principles. They contend that entire harmony among different religious persuasions, is quite compatible with a full exposition of scriptural knowledge and truth, and their report of 1839 expresses a fixed determination to have the Bible read in their schools without limitation or control. "There can be no parley on this subject," say they. "It is based on a principle too firm to be shaken. The desirable end of uniting children of different religious persuasions in the same school can only be obtained by the fullest and most unfettered

Of